'Obaboom'

From D.C. to Kenya, the tourism industry is powered by a fascination with Barack Obama

The Mall with the U.S .Capitol at the top is seen from the air, on November 21, 2008, in Washington, DC. Estimates of up to 4 million people are expected for the inauguration of US President-elect Barack Obama, exceeding any prior crowds for any event.

Photograph by: Paul J. Richards/Getty Images)
, Getty Images)

Washington will be the place to be next month when more than 1.5 million people are expected to jam the city for an historic event - the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States.

But you better move fast if you want to be there for the momentous day. With a month and a half to go to Jan. 20, the U.S. capital (a 10-hour drive or about two hours by air from Montreal) is just about booked solid.

Other destinations connected to the president-elect are also hoping to cash in on Obama-mania. Chicago (Obama's home town), Hawaii (his birthplace), and Kenya (his father's birthplace) are all expecting a spike in tourism - a so-called "Obaboom."

Here are some Obama-related travel sites for those who want to actually hit the road, do some virtual sightseeing or read up before they watch the inauguration from the comfort of home.

- Tickets to the official swearing-in ceremony will be hard to come by, but the parade that follows on Pennsylvania Ave. (complete with the new president, military regiments, marching bands and floats) is open to all.

About 240,000 swearing-in tickets will be distributed a few days before the big day. They're free, but you have to get them through a U.S. senator and members of Congress, who have been swamped with requests.

In the past, ticket brokers resold tickets. This time, demand is so high that some brokers are reportedly telling customers they'll be able to get tickets - for $40,000 for a pop. However, there is a move afoot to make selling or counterfeiting inauguration tickets a federal crime.

The website of the congressional committee that organizes the swearing-in (www.inaugural.senate.gov) explains the ticket process, and offers historical information and details about all the pomp - from the procession of the outgoing and president-elect to the inaugural balls. Its Facts and Firsts section is a gold mine for trivia fans.

- Destination D.C., Washington's official tourism site, has a special section devoted to the inauguration (http://tinyurl.com/6n6gxg).

The site can help you find a hotel room but it warns that while some are still available for mid-January, "many properties require a four to five-night minimum stay and pre-payment."

You'll also get inauguration tips and answers to frequently asked questions about the events. Tickets to the official inauguration balls are difficult to get, but the site includes info about "state society balls" and other smaller events for which tickets are easier to obtain.

- Expedia.com has a special section devoted to the inauguration (http://tinyurl.com/6pqc5t, click on "Click here to enter"), with tips and ideas for other things to do while in Washington.

It suggests you look for accommodations in the suburbs (but accessible to the city via Metrorail), where hotels may have "shorter minimum stays, better availability, and more affordable rates."

- Or try Craigslist, the classified-ad site, where D.C. residents are offering to rent rooms in apartments and entire houses, in some cases for thousands of dollars a night, at http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/trv/

- Those driving from Montreal can try hotels in New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania, along Interstates 87, 91 or 95. For hotel info, visit www.iloveny.com, www.nj.gov/travel or www.visitpa.com.

Instead of driving into the city, head to a Metrorail station run by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which has an inauguration-info web page, www.wmata.com/inauguration.

- Choose Chicago, the official tourism office, has a Presidential Chicago itinerary for Obama-philes who visit the city Obama has called home since 1985 (http://tinyurl.com/68ochw). Eat at his family's favourite restaurant, shop at his favourite bookstore and visit the basketball courts where he sometimes shoots hoops.

- Illinois' Bureau of Tourism has a suggested three-day Obama Trail itinerary (http://tinyurl.com/59avum), which includes walking tours of Grant Park, where he gave his victory speech, and of the Kenwood neighbourhood where the Obamas currently live.

- "You can't really understand Barack until you understand Hawaii," Obama's wife, Michelle, likes to say. That's music to the ears of Hawaii's tourism industry, which has been hit hard by the global economic crisis.

Obama spent most of his childhood there. The state's tourism office has a long list of Obama's favourite Hawaiian haunts on its Barack Obama's Hawaii page (www.gohawaii.com/obama).

The Honolulu Advertiser has a section devoted to Obama, complete with articles about what he has done on recent trips to his birth state (http://tinyurl.com/6mlneh).

- In Kenya, several companies are touting Obama-themed tours, all of which take visitors to the rural village of Nyangoma Kogelo, where his father was born and where his step-grandmother still lives.

2Afrika Inc. (www.2afrika.com) has an 11-day "presidential heritage safari" for $3,000 U.S that also takes visitors to the Mount Kenya Forest and the Masai Mara National Reserve.

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The Mall with the U.S .Capitol at the top is seen from the air, on November 21, 2008, in Washington, DC. Estimates of up to 4 million people are expected for the inauguration of US President-elect Barack Obama, exceeding any prior crowds for any event.

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